1. Berkeley Prep (13-0)

Senior Owen McElfatrick’s bases-loaded RBI single walked off the Buccaneers lone win during spring break as Berkeley Prep defeated Jesuit, 4-3. Prior to the year, Bucs head coach Richie Warren called staff ace JT Quinn “the best pitcher in the area,” and the Ole Miss-signed senior righty has certainly lived up to the statement so far. Though he didn’t pick up the win against the Tigers, he did strike out 11 in the no-decision, and is 4-0 on the year with a 0.59 ERA. Berkeley travels to take on the streaking Tampa Prep Terrapins on Tuesday, and hosts Cleveland, Ohio’s St. Ignatius on Thursday.

2. Sickles (12-1)

The Gryphons picked up three wins in Week 5, topping Blake, Leto and Freedom. We have dedicated a lot of time in the 8-1-3 list to the awesome start from Caden McDonald (.730 avg, 27 RBI), but how about the work at the plate being turned in by junior Connor Vance and sophomore Thomas Bly? Vance is hitting .429 setting the table at the top of this potent lineup and scoring 14 times, while Bly is hitting .500 on the year with 18 RBI and two homers. Barely have time to mention Hayden Yost and his 24 runs scored. Barely. Sickles is on the road against Gaither and Jefferson, and host King on the week.

3. Plant (11-3)

Stretching that win-streak to seven games, the Panthers are as hot as anyone around right now picking up wins over Jefferson, Robinson and Alonso last week. With homers against Alonso and Jefferson, Bryce Pelleriti paced the offense, but the Panthers are showing little weaknesses on offense with big contributions from Robert Satin, Jack Meade and Tanner Swank – who leapt into our attention with a jumping snag of a liner for the final out in Plant’s Saladino final victory. Plant has an away game (Tuesday) and home game (Saturday) this week – both against Bloomingdale.

4. Lennard (11-0)

The Longhorns remained undefeated last week with a routing of Brandon, and held on to its first-inning lead in a battle with Durant (a game you can read more on by clicking here). We knew Lennard would be strong this year when we listed them 11th in our preseason rankings – but 11-0? We did not see that coming. The ‘Horns now have the target affixed on their backs but have shown no signs of slowing down with Jack Mueller (4-0) and Zack Bird (3-0, two saves) pacing a pitching staff with a combined, team 1.32 ERA this season. Wharton will be a big test tonight, and East Bay at home on Friday will have that anything-can-happen, neighborhood-rivalry feel.

5. Newsome (9-2)

Admittedly, the Wolves jumping into the Top 8 here might be a week late, as Newsome’s last loss was an extra-inning one to Hillsborough in tournament play, and is the lone blemish in the team’s last nine games. The Wolves jump into the five-hole here with a win against Durant and a shutout victory against Plant City on Friday. We covered senior Jack Weber’s eight-strikeout, four-hit shutout against the Raiders (click here), while hit streaks from Matthew Giles and Lucas Phelps (both at 10 games) and Evan Dempsey (five games) have keyed the offense. Two big east-county games this week at Strawberry Crest and at home against Durant are ahead for the Wolves.

6. Jesuit (10-5)

One-run losses against Sickles and Berkeley Prep in the last two weeks are nothing for concern for us and thus we aren’t knocking the Tigers too far down this list. As Tigers coach Miguel Menendez said after the Berkeley game last week, this is the reason Jesuit books the schedule it does – to be playoff ready. There are very few “seven-inning teams” around and the Tigers are undoubtedly near the top of that list. Throwing a dart here: Wes Mendes has four homers – three of which came in game’s he was also the starting pitcher. Jesuit has a big game with undefeated Calvary Christian on the road Wednesday, and host St. Ignatius, Friday.

7. Strawberry Crest (9-4)

Ethan Pues’ fourth homer of the season proved the difference in an absolute battle between Crest pitcher Luke Richardson (W, CG, 2H, 5K) and Patriot’s senior Evan Mobley (CG, 1R, 6H, 5K) last week, and Pues also had a pair of hits and three RBI in a win over Middleton last week. In the latter, Zach Redner (win) and Alex Philpott combined to strike out nine in a mercy-rule, four-inning win. A Top 8 showdown at home against Newsome on Wednesday has “game-of-the-week” written all over it, and the Chargers will also travel to King on Thursday for a game.

8. Wharton (9-3)

The Wildcats started last week with a 6-0 win against a good Armwood squad, but Wharton couldn’t get all the way back in a rallying attempt at Durant on Saturday. Senior Billy Eich was 4-for-7 last week with two doubles and scored five times, while Ryan Fry struck out nine in six-scoreless against the Hawks to earn the win. The Wildcats will bring a team .308 average on the road to Ruskin tonight against the undefeated Lennard Longhorns, travels to Mitchell on Wednesday, and visits neighbor Freedom on Thursday this week.

1-On-the-Bubble

Hillsborough (8-3)

The Terriers only played one game last week, but earn the nod here as our bubble team for Week 5. A wash-out spoiled Hillsborough’s chance for redemption against Wharton last week, but the Terriers took care of business against Middleton in its lone game last week. Cam Mallo’s inside-the-park grand slam(!!!) keyed a five-run second inning in the Terriers victory, while Sal Urso, Jr. struck out 10 to earn the win. The Terriers have a showdown with Robinson ahead on Tuesday, and host Tampa Bay Tech on Thursday.

3-(Grab-)Bagger

1. Winning five of its last six, including Friday’s 7-2 victory at Seffner Christian (click here to read about it), Tampa Prep is playing some really good baseball at the moment. According to Terrapins head coach AJ Hendrix it has been a “complete team effort” and that there has been a real commitment by his players to stay in every game no matter the situation. Sophomore Noah Sheffield turned in some solid defense at SS against Seffner Christian, and has been hot at the plate hitting .447 with 13 runs and 13 RBI.

“Playing for each other has been our motto this year,” he said, “and these kids have done a great job with this, whether they are on the field or on the bench. Everyone has picked each other up all year long and that is what it takes for success.”

Tuesday’s home game against top-rated Berkeley Prep is going to be as tough a game as Tampa Prep may have this season, and the Terps round out the week hosting Green Bay, Wis.’s Bay Port on Saturday.

2. A rocky 0-3 start was a little rougher than we expected from Jefferson when we listed them 8th in our preseason rankings, but the Dragons (6-7) have shown a lot of grit this season – including finishing the week strong last week with wins at Steinbrenner and against Middleton. Sophomore righty Mikey Marroquin is 3-1, winning his last starts and has a 1.90 ERA in six appearances. The Dragons lone regular-starting senior Ale Montada is hitting .359 with 10 RBI, while fellow-senior Charles Fowler has shown off his blistering speed with 12 stolen bases on the season – including a four-steal game against Wharton. There is absolutely no slowing of the pace in Jefferson’s schedule, as the Dragons travel to face Freedom tonight, then host Sickles to end the week, and Jesuit to start the next week.

3. Winners of four-straight, Bell Creek Academy has had three winning seasons in a row and a .500 season before that for skipper Frank Burke, Sr. The Panthers are 5-3 on the year, and according to Burke he is seeing a new change in his players this year as they come in expecting to win every time out, where in the past he felt wins might have been more of a happy surprise.

“The kids have come together as a team and they believe they are in every game, unlike in years past where we really didn’t believe they could win,” he said.

That was evident clearly, according to Burke, when Bell Creek fell behind early to SLAM two weeks back, only to rally with some big innings late for a 14-6 win.

“Probably being down to SLAM early,” he said, “(I saw the) kids kept picking up their teammates and it helped keep them focused and to keep having quality at bats, which helped us win that game and give us confidence for every other game.”

The Panthers face a big test in Carrollwood Day (8-2) at home on Tuesday, and have Indian Rock Christian on the road, and another game against Foundation Christian (which it defeated earlier this year) to round out the three-game week.

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Editor’s Note: Each week of the regular season we will bring you our traditional rankings with THE Top 8, followed by 1-On-the-Bubble team, and finally our 3-(Grab)-Bagger – a collection of three stories from the previous week we felt deserved some attention.